Welcome to UNITY the rock club in the heart of Peterborough. Bringing you the best of new talent and live entertainment every week. Meeting every Thursday night at Goodbarns Yard, 64 St Johns Street, Peterborough.

Friday, October 27, 2006

We seemed to have a great vibe going on, it could be due to the phases of the moon, it could be the government is secretly putting something in the water, it could be there's some genuinely nice fun loving people who come to Unity. If you're one of them here you are in the montage below.

Fresh from saving the day at last weeks bash "Sacred Heart" turned up again to play their booked gig. Solid rock well performed, this is what intensive rehearsals and experience does for you.

Fresh from the heartlands of Norfolk "Blag" took the stage with their punk ska sound. You know when a band is good everyone starts dancing. I spotted a fair few rocking. So based on this I have to conclude, by logical deduction that yes Blag are officially a good band.

Next week we have a treat for all you fans of deaf metal, sorry death metal. We have those wonderful guys (and girl) Switch Theory, plus metal masters Sever The Wicked plus Cell69 it's gonna be great.

OPAQUE NEWS:With an array of new shows for november and a minibus of our own we will nowbe taking anyone who fancies a night out to our shows. Please find below alist of gigs and email me if you'd like to come with us. We are charging £12return including entry to gig.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Winter certainly seems to be hitting very late this year - far be it from me to complain about me not having to shiver yet, but I think the trees are getting a little puzzled again. If there's no such thing as global warming there certainly seems to be UK warming!

Anyhoo, for the time being I'm gonna keep enjoying the lack of bite in the air while I ponder what a gwan in the boro and beyond this week.....

.....and in weeks ahead - as I ponder the excitement that next weekend will bring as the Muddy Scorpio Party comes to town with a live line-up that has to be seen to be believed, including the wonderful and intensely original Joe Driscoll (a one-man band like you've never seen before!), FlipronCorneiliusWakeSam Beer and Sarah Bear . Tell the world and bring them all to Lisboa next Saturday night - it's gonna be a phatty one.

Wednesday

Wednesday's is the day for the Pixie Folke open mic session at Bar Lisboa, 24 Lincoln Road, Peterborough. Doors open at 9pm and entrance is free so bring your instruments along and present your skills to the world in one of the most laid back atmospheres you are likely to find.

Thursday

The Unity @ Lisboa bods are very excited to have Norwich based ska-punk wonders Blag visiting on the Peterborough leg of their current tour - celebrating the release of their second album. In the support slot are classic-style rockers Sacred Heart . Should be a wicked night and it's only £2 on the door (or £1 to Muddy members) so don't miss out.

Friday

Friday is open mic night at the Glass Onion. What a lucky city the boro is to have two really laid back and friendly open mic sessions per week! Be sure to take full advantage! Entrance is free and music starts around 8pm.

Meanwhile at Lisboa the Contact boys are bringing another experimental experience to tickle your fancy and your intellect. The residents will be mashing up experimental sounds and techno weirdness along with live performances from Ki (techno - Brighton) Sys-Ex (Inceptive records) and breaks from DJ Kevlar (Lincoln). Entrance is £4 before 12pm and £5 after.

Saturday

The Glass Onion is hosting it's 24 hour novel workshop this weekend - challenging you to write a 24 page novel in 24 hours so get down there early in the day and get involved.

At Lisboa the Peterborough Punk Club are bringing another line-up of three quality punk bands to the stage from 8pm until 11pm. From midnight the Lisboa Halloween Party begins, it's a fancy dress affair with prizes for the best three outfits, and to keep you entertained Dj's on the decks will be Fuse (eclectic - Lisboa) Urb (eclectic - System Abuse) Bidbod (psy-trance -Playskool) Shaggy (breaks - Psychedelic Breakdown) & Kendo (Acid Trance - Playskool). Entrance is £3.

Sunday

Deep Roots are still at Lisboa on a Sunday night - with free BBQ food courtesy of the Lisboa management and one of the most relaxed atmospheres to be found. Entrance is free and doors open at 6pm.

Latest news in is that dear old Elvis is not pulling his weight just recently, and that's just a month and a bit short of the Unity Elvis Beatles and Stones night. You see for a dead guy he's only earnt a pawltry £42million this year that's a down turn on last years £45million. It seems he's been over taken in the rich lists top ten dead guys by none other than that other top dead performer Kurt Cobain who has been working hard in the way only a dead person can. However most of that £50million he's earnt comes from selling his back catalogue. So next year he'll have to pull his socks up to maintain his top slot in the dead pool.Other rockers who need to pull up their socks are John Lennon, Bob Marley and Ray Charles, mind you even dead they earn more in a year than I hope to see in a lifetime.

Finally Myspace of the day goes to The Lines a four piece band from Wolverhampton, who claim influences from Radiohead and The Klaxons. You never know we may even get them to play Unity one day if the record companies don't snatch them from under our noses and make them too big for us bother with. Not that we're inversely snobbish an' all, we're just realistic enough to know that when people get noticed they want to be paid. Which means we'd have to charge you lovely people lots of cash to get in to see them. They could be worth it though. Check them out

Friday, October 20, 2006

Another great Unity night, except it wasn't, except it should have been, except it was. Let us explain to you filthy little heathens who chose not to turn up and support your local music scene. You missed a great night. First on stage the up and coming, the rocking, the very loud, End of the Day. Here's where our problems started. Our two American bands were a "no show" at this stage so with the argueing powers of a high court judge we persuaded those lovely guys of Sacred heart to do a fill in set. With borrowed guitars, borrowed Bass,and borrowed drums. Brilliant. You have a chance to redeem yourselves by turning up next week (in Sacred Hearts eyes anyway)to see them.No sooner had Sacred heart started playing but our friends from Los Angeles turned up after driving a solid nine hours from Edinburgh. This is the dedication they have. So their support band PSS played first.Finally a long time after I'm usually tucked up in bed with a hot.... the headline band hit the stage. Blue Meridian. They were worth the wait. Fantastic. Thank you to everyone who turned up and especially to the bands playing who went above and beyond the call of duty. So here you are in all your glory.Rock on dudes. See you on the other side.

Myspace of the day is a feature on Unityrocks that doesn't really live up to it's name of Myspace of THE DAY. Because we don't do this daily. Occasionally we'll find something that's worth a closer look and we think we have. Here's a band right on our doorstep. The Wainwrights I didn't think we'd have a band that had the full Phil Spectre/ Beachboys sound here. But we have. There's also a couple of tracks featuring the wonderful Maddy and Chris Watson. So check them out. You never know they might appear on a stage near you in the future.

Elsewhere in the land of music and honey, news is coming in that Genesis are reforming and before you all wet yourselves in excitement that doesn't mean Peter Gabriel is back. It's Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony banks who are embarking on a major tour soon so you can all come down from the ceiling and start digging out your "I hate Phil Collins" T-shirts. Go on you all secretly love Genesis dontcha?

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Welcome to your weekly rundown of what's on this week in the boro and around abouts.

Wednesday

Pixie Folke club are in Lisboa for open mic shenanigans still every Wednesday - with residents Shaggy and Abi of Point of Origin and many other wonderful people turning up to play each week. Entrance is free, the sofas are comfy, the vibes are good, and doors open at 8pm.

Thursday

Unity have a line-up we've been looking forward to for a long time this week:

Blue Meridian are all the way from LA and are currently touring the UK with friends PSS - they bring a beautiful and tight performance of melodic rock music. Check them out at www.bluemeridian.net

PSS are from North Hollywood and are a very tight rock band. You can find them online at www.psstheband.com

End of the Day have established themselves as one of the finest rock bands based in Peterborough. If you haven't lucky enough to see them play yet have a listen at www.end-of-the-day.co.uk

Unity takes place at Bar Lisboa, 24 Lincoln Road, Peterborough (up the stairs next to Curry Masters). Doors open at 8pm for the open jam session (come and get involved) and when the live music finishes the world record breaking DJ Urb serves up an eclectic mix and mash-up of styles to take us through to the early hours.

Friday

The Glass Onion is hosting a one-off "Oxjam" event this Friday, with all of the £2 each door proceeds going to Oxfam.On the bill are Opaque, Karmadillo and The Battery Apple Trees amongst others so get down and show your support. The event is running 6pm till 1am.

The Brewery Tap were supposed to have Silverspace playing this Friday- but unfortunately they have had to drop out due to a guitarists injury (get well soon wishes from all to Rion Zion). Instead they have DJ Julian Roberts and friends presenting Something Missing "The best influential sounds of the last 50 years", a mixture of motown, indie, ska, mod, madchester, northern soul, reggae, etc.

Funktional are in Lisboa for the first time this Friday, with special guest Rayan Gee from the legendary Shades of Rhythm playing an old skool set. Residents J Stanford, Juan Baptiste and Magnum PI will be playing soulful vocal house music throughout the night. Door times are 9pm till 4am.

Saturday

The latest offshoot from the Playskool Sound Collective is hitting Lisboa this Saturday. Psychedelic Breakdown will present the finest cutting edge psy-trance and psychedelically-minded filthy breakbeats. The second room will bring a diverse range of chilled out grooves and laid back beats from house to dub to hip-hop....and a whole world of randomness in between times. The main room will be most satisfied to have Far Too Loud (funkatech/broke) travelling from Surrey for the night to funk things up with their full on breaks, as well as Woef (Indigo Children/Newfoundland) visiting from Wales with full-on psy-trance. The Indigo Children tribe will also be decorating the venue along with Playskool's resident painter Mel. Door times are 9pm till 5am and entrance is £4. Around the corner in the Brewery Tap is "Cookin' " with DJ Ottis and guests 'frying up old school funk, blending together 80's and modern soul, finishing off with a fresh sprinkling of upfront soulful house flavours that will leave your taste buds wanting more'.For something more laid-back London based Electro-Acoustic club are showcasing....erm...elctro

-acoustic music at the Glass Onion. Based at the Slaughtered Lamb in London these nights have quickly built a good reputation for bringing the finest in the UK's acoustic music to the stage.

Sunday

Irene Rae is back into the world of performing this weekend after a spot of illness (glad to know you are better Ren). Her return to the stage can be seen at Cromwells this Sunday in Stamford. Starts at 8pm - 10.30pm.

Meanwhile back in the boro Deep Roots are in session at Lisboa with chilled out grooves from 6pm onwards, with a free BBQ in the garden to feed your bellies.

...and finally

Peace love unity respect and big-ups to the people of the positive vibe.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Indios Bravos, one of the biggest bands to come out of Poland, hit Bar Lisboa Saturday night. As predicted it was a sell out with queues stretching down Lincoln Road toward John Lewis. People were still queueing to get in at 1:00am.Tonight they debuted their new EP notable by the fact that the audience didn't sing along as they had been doing with every other song before hand. Talking of audiences here they are in all their polish wonderfulness.

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Friday, October 13, 2006

There are times when I absolutely love this shit. Tonight was another of those times. We set ourselves the challenge of putting on four acts in one evening. With the co-operation of all the acts and the hard work of Andrew and Rich we pulled it off. No small thanks go to all you lovely people who came along to enjoy the show and by some strange quirk of fate here you all are in the traditional Unity Montage. Ah! Moosejaw. We love this band. We are going to fight tooth and claw to persuade them to come back and do their full show for you. Maybe giving Dean a little more room to throw himself about than he had here. If someone says "Yeah I've got an act it's just me on Bass and a drummer" you'd not think much would you. You wouldn't take it too seriously. Well this is Tarantella. One bass guitarist and a drummer. Jaws dropped in amazement. We had a venue full of the gobs well and truly smacked as Tim Pearson played his bass like a lead guitar, totally as one with his drummer. Like a telepathic link. Awesome! This was the first public airing of this as well. If you liked that, you've another chance to see him as he's back next week with End of the day.Bless their little cotton socks it's Point Seven Pistol. Jimmy Kidnap and the boys rocking it up.All the way from Ipswich the Tractor boys themselves Fingersmith. What a lot of fun these guys are. Those of you lightweights who left early missed a great band. Apologies to Fingersmith for keeping them out til very late. But if you insist on being the headline band, this is what happens. Don't forget next week we have the fabulous "End of the day" and all the way from the good ol' US of A "Blue meridian" so that's going to be another great show. We'll see you all there.

It's a really full line-up so make sure you get there early so as not to miss any of this wicked stuff.

Doors open 8pm for the jam session and first act will go on around 9pm. And you get all of this for £2,or just £1 if you are a Muddy member. Venue is Bar Lisboa, up the stairs next to Curry Masters 24 Lincoln Road.

Friday

Chainsaw Promotions are bringing a three band line-up of metal and metalcore to the Park this Friday night. York metalcore heroes RSJ are taking the headline slot with local support coming from Wargrave and This Mantra. Doors open at 8pm and the £4 entrance fee includes entry to the club night after the bands (as long as you are over 18).

Meanwhile Bish Bash Bosh are continuing there eclectic hard dance mash-up at Lisboa, with two rooms of fast and hard electronic music to make you jump around like a nutter. Entrance is £3 and doors open at 9pm.

Saturday

There is an air of expectation and excitement buzzing around the Polish community of the city awaiting the arrival of Polish reggae/hip-hop heroes Indios Bravos and DJ Feel X to the Lisboa on Saturday night. These guys are household names in Poland and are stopping past our humble city on their way to play a sold-out show to 3000 people in London the night after! You can have a listen to them at www.indiosbravos.com , and believe me they are well worth a listen. There are no advance tickets and there has been a lot of interest so if you would like to be there for the night be sure to be in the queue well before the 10pm start time. Entrance is £7.

Sunday

Deep Roots bring chilled beats and free BBQ food to Lisboa from 6pm on Sunday. Time to unwind and relax.....

Finally

WE started to get a few people putting in their bids for songs for the Beatles Stones and Elvis night. There's still plenty of time before the 21st December so get rehearsing. Richard said it would be cool if people dressed up as well. So any would be Elvis impersonators want to give it some get on down. Massive quiffs, mop tops and rubber lips essential.

here's a list of people who want to play and those who've already chosen their songs.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Well it happens sometimes. Saturday night was slow to get going. But when it did you guys were rocking... and here you all are.By way of a change this week. Here's a little teaser for you. Mike Da Hat has done this little montage below featuring one our favourite acts, who played recently on our stage. First prize for guessing who it is, gets a totally self funded trip to Disney World Florida including all the spending money you can save. Or you can just pat yourself on the back for having your finger right on the pulse of whats happening in the 'boro'. Answer at the end if you haven't already guessed.For those who arrived late, you know who you are, you're going to kick yourselves that you missed Abi and Stacey live on stage.Destined for greatness. IN the Unity office we're very proud of these two, who have been with us since the very beginnings of Unity.The incredible Mr Zed. Along with the megaphone, soaring vocals and loads of energy, they had you dancing.What can I say? The amazing Tarantism blessing the Bar Lisboa stage once again. They never fail to entertain.Well that's it for now but prepare yourselves for a mega Unity Thursday when we have four, yes count them, one two three four bands, live on stage for your delight. Moosejaw, Tarantella, Fingersmith and Point Seven Pistol

Oh yes and the answer to the teaser. It's Drew, Ross, Ben and Dale of Wake. Yeah you knew that didn't ya?

Friday, October 06, 2006

You know there's a lot of hard work goes into putting on Unity every week, all that behind scenes stuff we do, writing begging letters to bands, setting up equipment, doing the website, having food fights in the Unity office and for what? What do we get out of it? Well we have a load of fun doing this, we get to see great bands, and we get to meet a lot of lovely people. Talking of lovely people here's a bunch of you having a great time. This week we started things off with a special appearence of the "Unity Acoustic All Stars" (do you like that name? we just made it up). That's most of the Unity team on stage Richard, Moony and Mike Da Hat not forgetting our guest stars Rory and Chopper. Andrew (AKA Shaggy) saw fit to be a selfish bastard and swanned off on holiday to Portugal for sea sun and sand, or was that sun sand and ... whatever. And Tasha danced a bit.

Imagine some great pics just here if you will.Our stand in photographer has yet to come up with the goods.Yes that's him in the Montage above. So we'll twiddle our thumbs a bit.

As alway Unity has great pleasure in presenting the fabulous "Groove Cartel" a guaranteed brilliant night everytime they play. You see it wasn't just the Fabulous Unity Acoustic All Stars that made the night. These guys are the dudes who put the funk into... er... funk and really rocked. If you missed them don't panic they'll be back at Lisboa but not until the Muddy promotions Winter equinox extravaganza.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

It's a very busy week yet again for The Muddy Crew, Parties and community centre madness abound!with out much further ado the week ahead...

Tuesday

The acoustic scene in Peterborough is one of the most vibrant at this moment, with a vast wealth of local talent both established and emerging - The event is taking place at The Comet (Dogsthorpe Road, near the Fire Station) and entrance is free. Bring your instruments and voices.

Over at The Glass Onion Arts and Music Community Centre is Cross Cultural Escapades night with music, documentaries, films, live performance, guest speakers and debates, to smuggle you across new borders. 6Ppm – midnight entrance is free.

Thursday

At Unity @ Lisboa this week we have the wonderful Groove Cartel back ready to funk it up, with guest Lewis Slack guestin on Saxophone! entrance is £2/£1 Muddy members jam session starts at 8:30 pm bring ur smiles!

If you fancy something more chilled over at the Glass Onion Arts and Music Community Centre is Film night, this week showing Withnail & I (15) and more 8PM - Midnight

Friday

Over at The Park Diesel City Promotions brings another quality line up, Sever The Wicked / This is Colour / Death is upon us entrance is £5/£4 with flyer doors open at 8:30 pm, check the myspace for links to the bands:)

For something a little more electronic for your Friday session System Abuse are in Lisboa again bringing you the dirtiest drum and bass with the friendliest havin it vibes:)The event will run from 9pm till 5am and line up is:Urb (World Record Breaking Dj / Playskool)Khanage (Offkey / Ohm Resistance / Vibe)Tweeter (Bogarts Dj Comp Winner 2006)Scar redKodo (Sensoo Alliance)with special guest Lethal (offkey / ohm resistance /vibe )entrance is £4 / £3 Muddy Members (with card)....

Over at the Glass Onion Music and Arts Community Centre:

Strictly Roots Drum session including bongo's, djembe's and any percussion you care to bring along. Open to all levels with the main aim being FUN 4PM – 6PM free entranceMuddy Jam acoustic performances and open-mic. ALL are styles, and experience levels welcome 8PM – 1AM free entrance

It's at Lisboa, 24 Lincoln Road, PeterboroughGonna be a wicked day of sounds and fun - doors open 4pm and live music will kick off around 6pm. Kick out time will be 5am.Entrance is £5/£4 Muddy members

Over at the Glass Onion Music and Arts Community Centre is 24 HOUR COMIC BOOK DAYThe Glass Onion is one of only two venues in the U.K. taking part in this international event, with the aim of writing a 24 page comic book in 24 hours! If you want to take part please pop in and sign-up. www.24hourcomics.comstart time is 6PM.

Sunday

Sunday is time for Deep Roots session of laid back grooves ranging from funk through electro through soul and jazz. Deep Roots takes place at Lisboa and entrance is free. there is always a lovely free BBQ and is a perfect way to slowly get ready for monday:)